Results 37,841-37,860 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Order of Business (27 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Regarding proposals to amend legislation relating to tribunals, members of the Green Party are quoted in today's newspapers as saying the party has amendments to the legislation published by the previous Government and reinstated on the Order Paper yesterday. Have amendments tabled by the Green Party to the Tribunals of Inquiry Bill been agreed? The programme for Government mentions changes...

Restoration of Bills to Order Paper: Motion. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: I move amendmentNo. 1: In the Schedule to delete "Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005 — Order for Second Stage". I am particularly conscious that in the previous Dáil the Green Party, in particular, strongly supported the position of the Labour Party with regard to the Tribunals Of Inquiry Bill. While there is a case for reforming the procedure of tribunals, it is inappropriate to put this...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: I wish to share time with Deputy Ó Caoláin.

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Last year information given out before the budget stated first-time buyers paid up to €70 million in stamp duty, of which €66 million was on properties costing less than €635,000. The Bill's provisions grant absolute relief to all first-time buyers, regardless of the size of house purchased. Last year, the Progressive Democrats put forward proposals to abolish stamp duty for...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: That was the way the thing was structured, but there are people out there——

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: ——who have lost out as a consequence of taking the Minister at his word.

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: This is important in terms of the damage it will do to him as Minister for Finance. The defence of that position in his speech is not acceptable to reasonable people who acted in good faith on the advice contained in the statements he made. In the recent Finance Bill, on foot of amendments tabled by the Labour Party, the Minister agreed that abuses of stamp duty were taking place in regard...

Departmental Expenditure. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: In the context of the review, has the Minister been able to give guidance to the HSE on the distinction between capital expenditure and revenue and current expenditure? Embarrassingly, the Minister had to come to the House some years ago to correct errors in the HSE's capital budget. In recent days, we have again seen the HSE underspend its capital budget by €90 million only to deny it is...

Departmental Expenditure. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Is the Minister afraid to comment? Has the HSE got the figures wrong again?

Departmental Expenditure. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Sorry, I apologise.

Carbon Budget. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Will each Minister produce an account of his or her carbon footprint on an annual basis with regard to travel and other energy-using devices to which Ministers resort?

Carbon Budget. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: In many European parliaments Ministers keep an account of their carbon usage and it is reported. Governments purchase carbon offsets every time they take a long-distance hike and they invest in a tree somewhere. I invite the Minister to have an entire rain forest named after him——

Carbon Budget. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Some Ministers in this Government have bigger carbon footprints than others. We know the Minister for Finance is unlikely to be one of them. It would be interesting to know what it is. Do the Minister's Green Party colleagues have him making a note of his carbon footprint on a weekly basis?

Carbon Budget. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: The Minister is no fun. Now that he is the dauphin he has changed.

Carbon Budget. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: It could be done on the back of an envelope.

Order of Business (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: I would like to propose an amendment to the Schedule to No. 5 on today's Order Paper, so that the reference to "Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005 — Order for Second Stage" is deleted. This motion is similar to motions tabled in the House after previous general elections, seeking to restore to the Order Paper Bills which had commenced progress or had been published in the previous Dáil. The...

Price Inflation. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Question 76: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance his Department's forecast for the level of inflation for 2007; the way this compares to the forecast he gave in his budget speech; his views on the level of inflation continuing to run at 5%; the measures he will take to deal with this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17474/07]

Price Inflation. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: What does the Minister have to say to families and people at work who are receiving very little in the way of wage increases? Their wage increases are, to use the Minister's term, heavily moderated through the social partnership process, but they are living in an economy with an inflation rate of 5%. For most workers and their families, the cost of living in Ireland, compared to most...

Price Inflation. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: Can I ask a brief supplementary question?

Price Inflation. (26 Jun 2007)

Joan Burton: The Minister said that he, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment will meet with, I understand, IBEC, the trade unions and the rest of the social partners to discuss inflation. Is this a partnership Government? Are any of Fianna Fáil's partners in Government — the Progressive Democrats or the Green Party — invited along to meet the social partners,...